's the moderator, jim lehrer of pbs. he's done a dozen of these. and the rules, which he will announce at the start, give him broad leeway to guide the conversation and the debate. it is a cold room in denver. the campaigns wanted the temperature low. and it's not likely to stay that way once we get under way. both men have been prepping for days. this happens to be the obamas' 20th wedding anniversary. moments ago we saw a warm embrace between mrs. romney and mrs. obama. they both met each other at the front of the hall. their hiss, this is the first of three meetings debate style between these candidates. even though voting is under way in 34 states. we'll throw it to the moderator. >> good evening from the magness arena at the university of denver in denver, colorado. i'm jim lehrer of the pbs news hour, and i welcome you to the first of the 2012 presidential debates between president barack obama, the democratic nominee, and former massachusetts governor mitt romney, the republican nominee. this debate and the next three, two presidential, one vice presidential, are sponsored by the commission

this comment. i'm sorry, jim, i'm going to stop the subsidy to pbs. i like pbs, i love big bird. i actually like you, too. i'm not going to keep spending money on things -- >> let's -- >> let's get back to medicare. the president said the government could provide it at a lower cost without a profit. let's -- >> let's not. let's let him respond. let's let him respond to this specific on dodd/frank and what the governor just said. >> massachusetts governor mitt romney rolling over the debate moderator, jim lehrer, of pbs last night during the first presidential debate of this campaign season. joining us now for the interview is dan rather, host of "dan rather reports" on access tv. anchor of cbs' "evening news" for 20 years and a veteran observer of the campaigns. thank you. >> always a pleasure to be here. >> what is your reaction overall to the debate last night? i am amssuing you think mitt romney won the debate. what do you think is important about it? >> i think what's important about it is it gives governor romney a chance to get a second look from the electorate. when he was in a bad p

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